Short Order: New Boka Tacos, Human Hot Dogs + More

Scott ElmquistNew menu items are available at Patrick Harris’ two Boka restaurant locations in Richmond.

IMPORTANT TACO UPDATE: Boka Tako, voted your favorite food truck in our 2017 Best of Richmond, has expanded the menu at its two restaurants, Boka Grill and Boka Tako Bar. New tacos feature ingredients such as crab, poke tuna, tinga chicken and seasonal vegetarian options. The new Shameless Taco is a behemoth with a shell made of bacon and cheese and is stuffed with pork, tater tots, crispy onions and barbecue sauce. bokatruck.com.

HUMAN HOT DOG: That’s a phrase that would normally be terrifying to contemplate, but in this case, it refers to a charity event by the Richmond Flying Squirrels. On Friday, July 28, Squirrels general manager Todd Parnell will have 6 pounds of ketchup, mustard and relish poured on him to raise awareness about the Cameron K. Gallagher Foundation and its mission to combat teenage depression and anxiety. The event comes ahead of the foundation’s Speak Up 5-kilometer run this September. If all that gets you in the mood for an actual hot dog, well, they’re always available at the Diamond. squirrelsbaseball.com and ckgfoundation.org.

MORE BEER TO CELEBRATE: While we’re marking our calendars for beer-related events, go ahead and pencil in the Virginia Craft Brewer’s Fest on Aug. 19 in Charlottesville. It will be well worth the trip to sample the wares from nearly 100 breweries from across the state, including hometown favorites such as Ardent Craft Ales, 7 Hills Brewing Co., Kindred Spirit Brewing, Legend Brewery Co. and Strangeways Brewing. Also on site will be food trucks, the official unofficial cuisine of craft beer. There are multiple ticket tiers, with general admission starting at $50, but be sure to check out the Cask Garden add-on that features access to rare and limited-release brews from around the state. If you’ve ever wanted to know why Virginia is making a name for itself in the world of brewing, there’s no better opportunity. vacraftbrewersfest.com.

JUST ANNOUNCED: To celebrate its first year in Richmond, Stone Brewing is putting together its Stone Throw Down in RVA on Brown’s Island on Sept 9. Along with the requisite craft beer, six musical groups will be on tap, including funk band Lettuce, rockers London Souls, indie specialists Jeff the Brotherhood and funky local favorites the No BS Brass band. Tickets are on sale now for $10, with free admission for children younger than 12. stonebrewing.com.

CHILL OUT, EAT UP, TUNE IN

When you’re in the steamy depths of summer, nothing beats sliding into a darkened cafe to enjoy a night of music and drinking. Just like your favorite noir movie, there’s someone playing music somewhere every day of the week in this town.

BURGER WEEK RESULTS: Whoops! This slipped through the cracks last month and, being the burger lovers that you are, we didn’t want to leave you hanging on the winners from our 2017 RVA Burger Week.

Diamond Billiards grabbed first place with its Southwest on the Southside burger. Second place went to Curbside Café’s rustic burger. And rounding out third was Hurley’s Tavern and its I Dip, You Dip, We Dip burger.

Thanks to everyone who participated in RVA Burger Week — especially the participating restaurants who turned out another week of creative specials. rvaburgerweek.com

Speaking of food weeks, the next one is RVA Sandwich Week, which runs Aug. 21-27. We’re collecting specials right now and we’ll keep you posted with details in the coming weeks. rvasandwichweek.com.